Arctic Air

The Aerospace and Defense Industry Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (ADIANL) was established in 2001. The association is mostly involved in defence and security, but has seen increasing ties to offshore oil and gas operations in the province, largely through the aerospace industry’s considerable surveillance capabilities.

ADIANL is drawing international attention to the impressive ADS technology, infrastructure and expertise in the province, particularly in relation to harsh environments and emerging Arctic requirements. Central to this are a number of world-leading aerospace, sonar, communications, and surveillance companies resident in the province.

The association’s membership has doubled in the last two years, now standing at approximately forty. Members benefit from advocacy and closer ties to Provincial Government to promote their industry, while ADIANL is very active in engaging the ADS community in the province. For example, it is currently heavily involved with the Town of Goose Bay, NL to help them bring to market their considerable experience and capabilities.

Goose Bay, along with Gander, NL, was a very strategic location during World War 2, and remains so today for the emerging Arctic requirement. Location is key, and ADIANL has been working to create leadership in such strategic locations in the province. ADIANL also forms part of a wider association, the Atlantic Alliance of Aerospace and Defence Associations (AAADA), which encompasses all four Atlantic Provinces. ADIANL members are automatically AAADA members too, with the opportunity to participate in a number of tradeshows and industry events in Canada, the U.S. and even into Europe.

The MASS (Maritime and Arctic Security and Safety) Conference is organized each year by ADIANL, aimed at engaging the international community around environmental, geopolitical, strategic, and security issues in the Arctic. Most notably, topics focus on the pursuance of offshore resources and the opening of northern shipping routes, which highlight the Arctic as an emerging hub of technology and economic activity. MASS 2014 attracted about 260 attendees from several countries. MASS 2015 will be held in St. John’s, October 13 – 15, 2015 with the theme “Collaboration for Effect.”

ADIANL works with leading academic, and research and development institutions such as Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN), National Research Council Canada (NRC), Research and Development Corporation (RDC), Petroleum Research Newfoundland and Labrador (PRNL) and other local and national industry associations to further the province’s capabilities and enhance ties with the offshore oil and gas industry. The technologies that aerospace has for many years utilized and developed for Maritime security and safety purposes are the same technologies that will be required for oil and gas exploration and development in the Arctic. These include surveillance (radar and sonar), ice management, remote communications, physical security, asset management, and tracking.

Geography also plays an important role, as Newfoundland and Labrador is the eastern North American Path to the Arctictm for all shipping activity. From an aerospace perspective, most of the traffic into the Arctic flies over Newfoundland and Labrador and the province is also very strong in simulation. Central to this capability is the world-leading simulation suite located at the St. John’s-based Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial University, and many of the high-end simulators that are used for marine simulation and training have crossovers into aerospace, defence and security and oil and gas simulation.

The Newfoundland and Labrador companies among ADIANL’s membership are recognized all over the world and are developing a variety of innovative products and services for markets in Canada and as far afield as the Middle East, Central and South America, the United States, Europe and the Arctic. As operations in the Arctic increase, ADIANL will continue to push to bring international companies to the province to demonstrate the many virtues of its strategic location and its vibrant ADS and related industries.

Provincial Aerospace Ltd. (PAL) is an example of a company that has an international reputation for its surveillance capabilities. Recently, PAL teamed up with Airbus Defence and Space to be part of a bid for the fixed-wing search and rescue aircraft to serve the whole of Canada, indicative of the level of confidence and respect the global community has in PAL’s capabilities.

It is this sort of international acknowledgement of Newfoundland and Labrador’s aerospace capabilities that ADIANL strives to build upon, ensuring that the province’s ADS industry is high on the agenda when it comes to future Arctic development.